Family Photos

The family photo that I use as a profile picture on my blog was taken when I was a child growing up in Coronado. My sisters and I are pictured with our parents, Ida and Gene McDonaugh, on the porch of my grandparents' house. I'm seated on the left and Donna is on the right. Betty is the baby in the picture. I think it is a sweet picture. I have many happy memories at Grandma and Granddad McDonaugh's house on third and F. When I was in third grade, right after World War II, my family moved into the back part of the house where we lived the next three years.

My father's family moved into the house when he was around ten years old. It would have been 1921 or near that time. He was born in Washington DC, the youngest of nine children. He became an uncle when he was one year old. I don't know how many of his siblings were still at home when his family moved to California. Some of the older ones had been born on the west coast, but they are the ones who ended up staying on the east coast. Actually my niece Elizabeth has a lot more details as she delves into the family history.

Back to the front porch of my grandparents' home. Granddad enjoyed sitting in one of the old rocking chairs on the porch. It was a nice place to observe the activity of the neighborhood. There was not a lot of traffic in those days. The porch was the scene of many family pictures. One old picture that I loved had a large family gathering from when my father was a young man, before he married my mother. I wish I had a copy of it. There was a damaged copy in my mother's belongings but I couldn't save it. I do have a cute picture or two of my cousins, Malcolm and Geraldine, playing with my sister Donna and me on the porch. We were very young at that time.

When I was old enough to take pictures I enjoyed the task of being family photographer. I guess that is an obvious fact. I used a little Brownie Hawkeye camera for many years. Before that I had a little camera I sent for that would not have cost much at all. I took pictures of special family gatherings over the years. I did not have flash so all the pictures were outside with my favorite black and white film. I'm glad they were black and white as color pictures didn't last as long in those days.

When I was a teenager I found Mom's stash of pictures and took some for my album. I also found some portraits that were damaged from mildew. I took them to my favorite photo studio in Coronado and had copies made to preserve them. I also paid for my family pictures that we had taken when I was a teen. My sisters and I had photos taken when we each graduated from eighth grade which I made arrangements for and paid for with baby sitting money. The year Donna graduated from eighth grade we had the photo of our whole family made. It is a precious picture with both of our parents and we three girls. The fog wrecked my hairdo but that was a minor problem.

I continued with photos of Paul and me, and our four children. My sisters and I each had portraits taken when we were six months old. So my sisters and I continued the tradition with all of our children. We all  enjoyed taking snapshots of our children too, mostly black and white for posterity. Kathy's six month picture was in the window of the photo studio as part of their display.

When Laura was a baby I bought a special photo plan so we went to San Diego for portraits. It was the same photographer that had taken a photo of Paul and his brother Charlie when they were little. I had copies made of their picture too.

My sisters also had the same photo plan. When Betty was in San Diego she used the same photographer as we did. Donna went to a studio in Los Angeles. It is not that we had a lot of money for such things. We each penny pinched to do these extras. I baby sat and my sisters each had their ways to save for pictures.

My grandmother had a set of miniatures of each of her children and her first grandchild that were taken when my dad was two years old. I fell in love with these small portraits and never tired of looking at them as a child. There were also small portraits of Grandma and Granddad too. Since I fell in love with the miniatures I had some made of our four children. These pictures are special to me. 

In later years we had large family pictures taken with several generations. One is with my mother and all her children and grandchildren. One portrait is of Paul's dad and all of our family--four generations of us. I include in-laws in these pictures as they are part of the family. I have a four generation picture with Mom, myself, Kathy and her girls. Now I need a four generation picture with my new great grandson, Jacob. Traditions continue.  :)

Pictures are from family photo album
first picture- Donna,Geraldine,Malcolm&Caroline
next picture- my eighth grade graduation-
Grandma, Mom, Dad in back. Betty,Caroline&Donna in front
third picture- Marvin children- Kathy, Laura, Bill & Griff
last picture- R. Eugene McDonaugh- two years old in 1913